The President's Awards for Excellence in Societal Engagement are annual awards to recognise and reward staff, students and community partners who have delivered excellence in schools engagement, community engagement, engagement with research and/or patient engagement.

All nominations should be underpinned by an aspiration to better connect the work of Imperial and our research with society, championing a positive approach to change and opportunity by consistently role modelling the College’s expected values and behaviours, Respect, Collaboration, Integrity, Innovation and Excellence. 

The awards recognise achievement in the following areas:

• Improving the learning opportunities of less-advantaged young people, as part of our widening participation and schools engagement aims
• Engaging the public with research, through a process of two-way engagement
• Working in close partnership with local community and/or patient groups in response to a social and/or research challenge

Winning nominations will demonstrate the benefits of engagement to all parties: participants, practitioners and the College. 

Nominations for the 2023 President's Awards for Excellence in Societal Engagement are now closed.

For further details, including eligibility and award guidance, please visit our How to Nominate page. Please ensure that zscaler is enabled on your device. If you don't have zscaler on your device, you can download it from the Unified Access webpage.

The Awards

The President's Medal for Societal Engagement

For individuals or teams who have made exceptional contributions to societal engagement. The winner of the President’s Medal is chosen by the selection panel from the pool of nominations received across all four award categories listed below.

The Achievement Award for Societal Engagement

For individuals or teams who have taken the initiative to deliver high-quality engagement activities with the public, schools, community groups and/or patients, going above and beyond the expectations of their role. This could include:

• Developing innovative approaches to engagement
• Developing a collaborative approach to engagement with other departments and/or external partners
• Implementing high-quality engagement activities, programmes or events
• Sharing advice and experiences in engagement with others

This Award is open to individual nominations or team nominations. 

Achievement Award guidance 2023‌

The Leadership Award for Societal Engagement

For staff who have demonstrated an on-going commitment to societal engagement over time; bringing enthusiasm and innovation to this area and actively supporting other staff and students to get involved above and beyond what is expected of their job role. This could include:

• Delivering a portfolio of high-quality engagement activities
• Being recognised as a well-established champion and/or leading practitioner for engagement 
• Supporting colleagues and students to achieve their own societal engagement endeavours, including providing advice and guidance
• Improving engagement practice and impact for Imperial
• Creating a stimulating environment for engagement, providing, and sharing opportunities for others to get involved in engagement and develop skills 
• Encouraging staff and students to innovate and push boundaries

This Award is open to individual nominations only. 

Leadership Award guidance 2023

The Inspirational Partner Award for Societal Engagement

For individuals or teams outside Imperial who have made outstanding contributions that inspire and support us in the achievement of one or more of our societal engagement aims. This could include:

• Delivering exceptional engagement related to our education and research
• Being a role model or inspiration for our own approaches to engagement
• Implementing exceptional engagement with audiences we are seeking to engage
• Sharing advice and best practice with us and other external partners

Inspirational partners might include patients, residents, community members and partner organisations in the public, private and third sector.

This Award is open to individual nominations or team nominations. 

‌Inspirational Partner Award guidance 2023

The Student Award for Societal Engagement

For undergraduate or postgraduate students who have taken the initiative to deliver high-quality engagement activities with the public, schools, community groups and/or patients. This could include:

• Demonstrating innovative approaches to engagement 
• Implementing high-quality engagement 
• Providing excellent support for engagement
• Being considered as a role model by peers
• Sharing advice, best practice, and experiences in engagement with others

This Award is open to individual nominations or team nominations. 

Student Award guidance 2023‌‌‌

For further information please contact societal_engagement@imperial.ac.uk.